


The Old Bear's Daughter

by Weirddemiwood



Series: The Songs of Westeros [1]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2019-12-26 22:07:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18291179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weirddemiwood/pseuds/Weirddemiwood
Summary: Juliana Mormont is the only girl at the Night's Watch and has always been somewhat of an outsider but her life changes drastically as she finds herself on the run along with a lady disguised as a boy, a smith who doesn't know he's the King's bastard and a boy who's only passion is to cook.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being confronted with two Goldcloaks, Juliana's heritage is explaimed to the boys

"You in command here?" two riders asked.

Juliana and Yoren walked both walked towards them.

"You're a long way from home," Yoren acknowledged.

"I asked you a question," the southern knight said.

"You did," Juliana nodded, "but since you asked without manners, we decided not to answer."

The man pulled out a piece of paper, "I have a royal warrant for one of these gutter rats you're transporting."

"Well, the thing is," Yoren told him, "These gutter rats belong to the Night's Watch. Now, that puts them beyond the reach of kings and queens."

"Does it?" the man asked, starting to pull his sword but he stopped as he saw the two in front of him already having daggers out. Yoren had his pressed to the man's genitals.

"It's a funny thing- people worry so much about their throats that they forget about what's down low. Now I sharpened this blade before breakfast. I could shave a spider's arse if I wanted to," Yoren pushed the man's chainmail to the side, "or I could nick this artery in your leg. And once it's nicked, there's no one around here who knows how to unnick it."

Juliana pulled the man's sword from its sheat, "We'll just keep that," she threw the sword to the ground, "The Night's Watch can always use some more steel."

"It seems you have a choice," Yoren told them, "You can die here at this crossroads a long way from home, or you can go back to your city and tell your masters you didn't find what you were looking for."

The man who didn't have a dagger between his legs spat on the ground. 

"We're looking for a boy named Gendry," the soon-to-be-eunuch spoke up, "he carries a bull's head helmet. Anyone turning him over will earn the king's reward. We'll be back with more men and I'll be taking your head home along with that bastard boy." The last part of the sentence was directed towards Yoren before the two riders turned their horses and galloped back to King's Landing.

Yoren put his dagger away and turned to the boys they had collected while Juliana picked up the sword she had thrown on the ground.

"It's good steel, what a shame that I don't fight with swords." She threw the sword at a boy nearby who managed to catch it with both hands. 

"What?" Juliana asked as the boy looked from the sword to her.

"Nothin'" he mumbled as he walked to help another boy with making a fire.

*****

After having gone hunting, Juliana was cleaning her blades in the river and washing her hands from skinning animals as she heard a few of the boys talking.

"If they come back, I say we yield," a boy with matted blond curls spoke. "Gendry's the one they want. Don't get caught in the middle of a battle."

The boy next to him, a big kid with a chubby face replied, "I ain't afraid of no battles."

"If you got within a mile of a battle, you'd fill your pants," Arry spoke. He was a small boy with a high voice who Yoren had picked up out of King's Landing the day they had executed Ned Stark.

"I've seen lots of battles! I saw-"

"Liar!"

Juliana smirked. She liked Arry and his feisty personality.

"I saw a man kill another man just outside a tavern in Flea Bottom. Stabbed him right in the neck."

"Two men fighting isn't a battle," the blond boy argued.

"They had armour on."

"So?" Arry asked.

"So, if they've got armour on, it's a battle."

Juliana, who was finished with her work and now just stayed to see where their conversation was going, snorted and exchanged a smirk with Arry.

"No, it isn't" the blond boy continued the conversation.

"What does a dyer's apprentice know about battles anyway?"

"Gendry's an armourer's apprentice," Arry spoke up as the person in question came back to the river. "Hot Pie, tell Gendry what makes a fight into a battle."

Gendry was a young man the same age as Juliana and had joined the group not too long ago.

The chubby boy, Hot Pie, turned to Gendry, "It's, um, when they've got armour on."

"Who told you that?"

"A knight."

"How'd you know he was a knight?"

"Well, it was 'cause he got armour on."

"You don't have to be a knight to have armour," Gendry explained, "Any idiot can buy armour."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause I sold armour."

"You become a knight if a lord or the King makes you one after or while serving them," Juliana told the boys, making them look at her.

"How do you know that?" the blond boy asked.

"My older brother was one."

"Your brother?" 

Arry furrowed his brows, "Don't you know who she is?"

The boys shrugged their shoulders and Arry explained, "That's Lady Juliana Mormont. She's the daughter of the Night's Watch's commander."

Juliana nodded, "But if you call me Lady, I might have to kill you."

She sheathed her weapons and made her way over to a firepit where Yoren was sitting.

*****

Not long after finding out about the Lady in the camp, Gendry found out that there was, in fact, another Lady there.

"So you're a highborn, then. You're a Lady."

"No. I mean, yes." Arya Stark, who now called herself Arry, replied. "My mother was a Lady and my sisters-"

"Yeah, but you were a lord's daughter and you lived in a castle and you- look, all that about cocks, I should never have said- And I've been pissing in front of you and everything. I-I should be calling you "my lady"."

"Do not call me "my lady"!" Arya protested.

"As my lady commands," Gendy joked as he taught about the irony of the only two ladies he knew not even liking their highborn status.

He was pushed back by the lady in front of him, "Well, that was unladylike." 

"Oh!" he exclaimed as he was pushed onto the ground by Arya and he laughed as she stomped away frustrated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The camp gets overrun with Goldcloaks

"Ho!" Yoren's cry woke Juliana from her sleep, "Get up, you lazy sons of whores! Arm yourselves!"

Over the years, Juliana had learned to always sleep with a weapon on or near you but nonetheless, she armed herself further anyway.

"If this all goes to shit, you get those two out of here," Yoren told Juliana pointing at Arry and Gendry. "Bring them north. To Winterfell."

She nodded her head to show that she understood and he made his way towards the door of the building they had taken shelter in for the night.

"Hey, there's men out there who want to fuck your corpses! Outside, now!"

"Move! Move!" someone behind Juliana yelled as they all made their way outside.

"Gold cloaks!" somebody else yelled.

Different boys ran off into different directions as Yoren walked towards the leader of the Gold Cloaks and Juliana followed Arry and Gendry to a few bushes where they did close enough to hear what was being said.

"Where's the bastard?" the man asked.

"Got more than a few bastards here," Yoren told him, "Who's asking?"

"Ser Armory Lorch, sworn bannerman to Lord Tywin Lannister. These men from the capital requested our assistance. Drop your weapons in the name of the king."

"Now which King would that be?" Yoren asked.

"This is your last chance. In the name of King Joffrey, drop your weapons."

Yoren spat on the ground, "I don't think I will."

"So be it." The speaker lifted his hand and another man lifted a crossbow, shooting a bolt into Yoren's chest, sending him to the ground.

Arry began panting next to her as Juliana watched Yoren stand up, "I always hated crossbows. Takes too long to load."

Yoren managed to kill five men before Armory Loch stuck a sword in his throat and ended his life.

Gendry went to leave their hideout and started to run forward with Arry hot on his heels.

"What are you doing?" Juliana whisper-yelled.

"Probably something stupid," Gendry replied as he and Arry continued running.

The two of them ran into battle alongside the other recruits and Juliana had no choice but to follow them, as she had promised her friend to get them north.

It wasn't long before someone tried to show a sword through Juliana's chest but the young woman used one of her daggers to deflect it before she used the other one to slit the man's throat.

She was fighting off another man as she felt a sword piercing her shoulder from the back.

Angry about not seeing the man coming, she kicked out her foot, hitting her target between his legs and then turning around and breaking his neck.

As she only had a limited range with her daggers, she picked up the sword from the man she had just killed only to immediately pierce the chest of another soldier with it.

Continuing to fight off soldiers, Juliana got distracted as she saw Gendry get knocked out from the corner of her eye and in the split second that it took her to turn to him, another Gold Cloak hit her over the head with the pommel of his sword.

*****

Juliana had awoken on a cart and quickly jumped off only to realise that her hands were in shackles and her weapons gone. She had marched alongside Arry, Gendry, and Hot Pie for the entire night until they came to the dark fortress of Harrenhall where they could hear people screaming and crying.

"What kind of fire melts stone?" Hot Pie asked.

"Dragon Fire," Arry explained, leaving Juliana to ponder on how the little boy knew of the Targaryen's favourite weapon. Come to think of it, Arry new of a lot of things that only properly educated people would know.

"There's dragons here?" Hot Pie asked.

"All dragons are dead, Hot Pie," Juliana explained, "They died out."

"What's that smell?"

"Dead people," Arry and Juliana said at the same time before the little group continued to walk with the rest of the prisoners.

*****

Juliana stood next to Arry in the prison-pen as they heard a man beg for his life and then yell before his screaming stopped abruptly.

"He's dead," an old woman said, "He was my son. My sister was three days ago. My husband, the day before that."

"They take someone every day?" Gendry asked.

"Does anyone live?" Arry asked but they never got an answer.

*****

Thunder was rumbling above as Juliana lay next to Arry in the mud. She had tried to see for a way to escape Harrenhall but it hadn't been possible.

"Joffrey, Cersei, Ilyn Payne, The Hound." she heard Arry mumble next to her, "Joffrey, Cersei, Ilyn Payne, The Hound."

Arry kept on repeating his list of names until he fell asleep but Juliana couldn't manage to drift off into sleep so she sat up and looked to her other side where Gendry sat leaned against a wooden pole, watching her.

They stared at each other for a while until he broke the silence by asking, "So how did a woman end up with the Night's Watch? Everyone knows they only take men."

"I was always very close to my father when I was a child. So, when he left for the wall I snuck onto a carriage and went there with him. The only one who noticed me leaving was my brother but he would never have snitched on me," she explained to him in a hushed voice so she wouldn't wake the other prisoners up.

"What about your mother?"

"My father's first wife died and he never married again. I never met my mother, she left me on the doorsteps of my father's home."

"So you're..."

"A bastard? Yes, but after sneaking to the Wall with my father and staying hidden for almost a month, he decided to let me stay and later legitimized me. A lot of men didn't approve of me being there but I worked for my stay. I helped in the kitchen and that's really what made them warm up to me seeing as their cook was terrible," she laughed slightly at that and she could see a grin forming on Gendry's lips.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lord Tywin arrives at Harrenhal, Juliana finds aout about Arry being Arya

"Get up, you dogs!" a voice yelled.

Gendry and Juliana woke with a start. They had been talking for hours the night before until they finally been able to sleep, sunken against each other.

The guards around them were banging on the wood of the prison-pen to make sure everyone was awake and on their feet as a large man came walking towards them.

"That's him," Hot Pie informed them, "the one who picks."

"The Mountain," Arry explained, letting Juliana wonder how he knew that.

The prisoners looked away, trying to not get the attention of the Mountain so they wouldn't get picked.

"What are you doing?" Juliana heard Arry ask but she didn't look who she was talking to instead looking at the muddy ground they were standing on.

Juliana heard Hot Pie answer but didn't listen, she leant on the pole in front of her and let her mind wander but couldn't find anything useful.

"You," a deep voice spoke and Juliana now looked to see a man get dragged from the prison-pen and towards where they tortured the prisoners.

They could hear his screaming but Juliana couldn't bear to look at the tortured man. She had seen a lot of violence, living at the wall for the better part of her life but never had she seen someone getting tortured and she didn't plan to ever see it.

*****

The next day they were lined up again, and again, Juliana had her head hanging low.

The Mountain paced in front of them before stopping directly by Juliana, "You," he spoke.

Fear overwhelmed her body and felt cold shivers run down her back but then she noticed that the guards weren't pulling her out. The relief only lasted very shortly as she realized that they were unshackling Gendry.

Arry and her changed worried looks and Juliana pulled at her shackles as Gendry was lead away for questioning.

Juliana could hear them ask questions but she couldn't make out what they were asking. She then heard the squeaking of a rat and looked to see a man pull one out of a cage. Without thinking, Juliana warged into the mind of the animal and made it bite into the man's hand.

The man cursed and dropped the rat as Juliana's mind went back to her own body and she stood up from the ground she had fallen to.

Before the man could reach for another rat, they heard the sound of a horse neighing and looked to see Tywin Lannister ride into Harrenhall with other riders behind him.

"What's this?" the eldest Lannister asked as he stopped in front of the prisoner-pen and got off of his horse.

"We weren't expecting you till tomorrow, Lord Tywin," the Mountain answered.

"Evidently not," he chuckled, "Why are these prisoners not in their cells?"

"Cells are overflowing, my lord."

"This lot won't be here long," the man who was called Polliver told the lord, "Don't need no permanent place. After we interrogate 'em, we usually just..." he made a hand motion to a few severed heads they had nailed to a wooden board.

"Are we so well-manned that we can afford to discard able young bodies and skilled labourers?," he walked towards Gendry, stopping in front of him, "You, do you have a trade?"

"Smith, my lord," Gendry replied.

A guard caught Arry starring at him, "What are you looking at? Kneel!" he tried to swing for him but Arry ducked so the man pulled his sword, "Kneel or I'll carve your lungs out, boy."

Walking back to them again, Tywin Lannister spoke, "You'll do no such thing. This one's a girl, you idiot, dressed as a boy. Why?"

Juliana looked at Arry, if that was her name, with wide eyes as she answered, "Safer to travel, my lord."

"Smart. More than I can say from this lot. Get these prisoners to work. Bring the girl. I need a new cupbearer," he walked off.

"My lord," the Mountain nodded.

*****

Juliana had been instructed to help in the kitchen and mend the wounds of soldiers but she was currently watching Gendry work on a helmet.

"I can't believe Arry's a girl," she told him.

The young man nodded, "Her name is Arya."

"You knew?"

"I figured it out," he told her, "It wasn't my place to tell you though."

Juliana groaned, "Seven hells, how did I not notice?"

"If it makes you feel any better, it took me an entire day to figure out."

Juliana glared at him as he gave her a smug grin.


	4. Chapter 4

During the nights, Arya and Juliana shared a room with many other women and at daytimes Arya served Tywin Lannister while Juliana spent most of her time in the kitchens with Hot Pie, cooking meals or helping them being cooked.

They only had little free time but what time they did have they usually spent with Gendry, watching him work while they were eating as he usually ate while they were working.

It was currently one of those times and Arya was eating a piece of bread while watching Gendry make a sword. Hot Pie was still in the kitchens, since he seemed to like spending his time there, and Juliana was also watching, only that she found Gendry's shirtless state more interesting than his sword.

As Gendry pulled the sword out of a water bucket he had dipped it in, he swung it a few times.

"You should stand sideface," Arya told him.

"Sideface?"

"Sideways," Juliana explained.

"Why?"

"It makes it harder for the opponent to hit you if they have a smaller target."

Gendry looked around, "Am I fighting someone?"

Juliana pulled one of the swords he had made earlier from a stand and stood in front of him, challenging.

Gendry went to attack her but stopped as they heard someone yell.

"Guards!"

"Help!"

"Did you see anything?" a man asked as they went to see a man lying on the ground motionless.

Walking closer, Juliana could see that it was the Tickler (the man that had led the torturing) who had fallen from a bridge after having his neck broken.

*****

Juliana was chopping off some carrots for a stew when Arya walked into the kitchen.

"Do you know where Jaqen is?" she asked.

"Who?"

"One of the men Yoren had in the cart. The one with the red hair."

Juliana shrugged her shoulders, "Can't say I've seen him anywhere recently, why?"

Arya turned around again, "I need to find him."

Juliette put down her knife and followed the girl as she walked through the courtyard and came up to Hot Pie who was telling Gendry about Cherry Pies, the latter didn't seem overly interested.

"Where is Jaquen?" Arya asked.

"How would I know?" Gendry asked back.

"I need him now! Lord Tywin is marching tonight."

"You need him?"

"He's helping me."

"I saw him," Hot Pie told her.

"Where?"

Hot Pie shrugged so Arya walked to him and took a hold of his ears, "Where? Where?"

"They went riding out the gates a few hours ago. On patrol. Let go of my ears."

The sounds of horses neighing made Arya turn around so she could see Tywin mounting his white stallion, at least Juliana assumed it was a stallion.

"What do you want with him anyway?" Hot Pie asked as Arya walked towards the Lord.

Juliana turned towards Gendry, "Does she not know how suspicious that sounds?"

Gendry shrugged as he continued his work, "She's probably too young to know."

"Know what?" Hot Pie asked, making them both turn to him.

"That it sounds weird when she tells us she 'needs him'," Juliana explained, "Although, thinking about it, she's probably never been with a man."

"What, and you have?" Gendry asked.

Juliana snorted, "I pretty much grew up at the wall, a place full of men and boys. They may not be allowed to marry or have children but their vows technically never forbid them to lay with someone."

*****

Arya had told Juliana to meet Gendry, her, and Hot Pie at midnight and bring whatever she deemed useful.

So here she was, a bag with food slung over her shoulder as she waited with her group of friends. Hot Pie had also brought food while Gendry and Arya had stolen weapons so Juliana at had a dagger in her boot and a sword strapped to her waist.

"What did he want us to do about those guards?" Gendry asked, referring to Jaquen, who was supposedly helping them get out of Harrenhall.

"He didn't say. He just said, 'walk through the gates.'"

"What about the guards?" Gendry asked.

"He didn't say anything about the guards."

"What he left that bit out? It's a pretty important part, don't you think?"

"We have to trust him?" Arya told them.

"We barely know the guy," Juliana hissed, "he could have told the guards we're coming for all we know."

"I want to go back to the kitchens," Hot Pie said.

"Shut up. Stay here if you're afraid," Arya told him before standing to walk through the gates.

"Arry, don't."

Arya ignored Hot Pie's word and continued walking so Juliana cursed and pulled Gendry up, following the girl, "I promised Yoren to get you two north. I intend on keeping that promise."

They walked to the gate, followed by Hot Pie and saw that the guards were hanging from it as they passed through it.

No one stopped them as they left Harrenhal so they made it out without even spilling a drop of blood.

The group of friends marched on through the night, not daring to stop. The only time they stopped was when Arya said goodbye to her strange friend before they continued on their journey north.

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Arya had told them of her deal with Jaquen, leaving her friends with a few questions.

"I'm just trying to understand," Gendry told her.

"Would you please shut up about it?"

"Jaquen H'ghar offered you three kills."

"I'm not listening."

"But just explain it to me. He offered to kill any three people you wanted. Dead. All you had to do was give him the names. Anyone. You could have picked King Joffrey. "

"Shut up."

But, of course, Gendry did not shut up, "You could have picked Tywin Lannister."

"Jaquen got us out of Harrenhal, so why are you complaining?"

"But you could have ended the war."

"Where are we going?" Arya asked, stopping.

"North," Gendry told her.

"If we were going north, we should have come to the Red Fork River by now."

"Maybe we already passed it," Hot Pie suggested.

"It's a 100 feet wide. How could we have passed it?"

Juliana groaned, "She's right. We need to find the Red Fork and follow it towards the trident, then we can follow the King's Road on a safe distance and get to Winterfell."

Arya shook her head, "No, we don't have enough provisions and the road is too dangerous. We should follow it west to Riverrun. My mother grew up there. My grandfather is the lord. He'll protect us and help us get to Winterfell so you won't break your promise."

Juliana went to answer as they heard the voice of a man singing.

They quickly hid behind an old stone wall.

"Could be a minstrel," Hot Pie guessed.

"Shut up," Arya and Juliana told him.

"A minstrel's got gold sometimes. We could jump him, tie him up, steal his gold, and buy some food."

Arya shushed him again as Juliana recognized the man's song to be  _The Rains of Castamere_ , a song the Lannisters liked to sing.

Suddenly, an arrow swooshed through a hole in the wall, making the friends jump back and press themselves against an undamaged part.

"What's lurking behind that wall?" the singer asked, "A lion? A wolf?"

"Just a dirty little cub, I think," another voice spoke.

"Loose a few more shafts," the first voice replied.

"Don't." Arya walked to where they could see her and Juliana heard a man step onto the wall.

"Put the sword down girl."

"You go down the road. Just keep on singing so we know where you are. Leave us be and I won't kill you."

A few men laughed as the singer said, "Generous. You're a dangerous person. I like dangerous people. Why are your friends so shy?"

"What friends?"

"The fat one to your left, the pretty lady, and the lad beside her," the second voice replied.

Juliana rolled her eyes as she and Gendry stepped forward to stand next to Arya, dragging Hot pie with them.

The singer jumped over the wall, making the friends ready their swords, "Four young ones on the run carrying castle-forged swords. You escape from Harrenhal?"

"Who are you?" Arya asked.

"Thoros of Myr."

" _The_ Thoros of Myr?" Juliana asked. She turned to her friends, "If he is who he says he is, my brother has fought side by side with him in the Siege of Pyke."

"That would make you Juliana Snow," Thoros pointed out, "If we're talking about Jorah Mormont, that is."

"It's Juliana Mormont now," Juliana told him.

"So, who do you fight for?" Arya asked.

"The Brotherhood Without Banners."

"They're a group of outlaws that Eddard Stark created," Juliana told her.

"I don't care who created them," Hot Pie said, "Their who the Mountain and them lot were looking for. They'll bring us back and put rats in us."

"You've got nothing to fear from us, son. The lords of Westeros want to burn the countryside. We're trying to save it. Now come on. We'll talk some more over brown bread and stew and then you can go on your way."

Juliana put her sword away and her friend reluctantly followed her as she climbed over the wall and to where the rest of the Brotherhood were, following them along their way.

*****

"I don't drink ale," Arya said as she was offered some.

"There's no story so good a drink won't make it better."

"Yeah!" someone agreed as Juliana took a cup and gulped it down.

"You see? They've all suffered through my bouts of sobriety. It's very tedious for all concerned. Now, how did four children-"

"We're not children," Arya interrupted.

"How did three young persons such as yourselves, untrained in the art of war, escape from Harrenhal?"

"Gendry's a Smith," Arya explained, "He was apprenticed in the armoury."

"A Smith, eh? Where'd you train?"

"King's Landing. Tobho Mott's shop."

"That criminal," Thoros laughed, "He charges twice as much as every other armourer in the city."

"That's because he's twice as good."

"Aha! A Smith and a salesman."

"Gendry stole us weapons," Arys continued her story.

"Ah, fought your way out of Harrenhal, I see."

"Gendry and Juliana know how to use swords and so do I."

As the men laughed, Arya added, "My brothers taught me," making the men laugh again.

Arya pulled her sword and pointed it at Thoros, making the men ooh.

Thoros jumped while simultaneously pulling his sword and disarming her in one smooth motion. 

He did a swirl and then twirled his blade around in his hand before putting it back and getting his mug, "To your brothers."

The men cheered as Arya picked up a sword and the two of them sat back down.

"You can finish your meals before you go," Thoros offered, "It may be a while before you see another."

"You'll free us?" Arya asked.

"I gave you my word."

Arya immediately shot up and motioned for her friends to follow her so they did, after grabbing some bread to eat it on the way.

"But before you go, allow me to raise a cup to your-"

He was interrupted by shouting as the archer, Anguy, came walking into the tavern followed by men cheering as they saw the tall man they were bringing in after him with a sack over his head.

"Now that is an uncommonly large person. How does one manage to subdue such an uncommonly large person?" Thoros asked.

"One waits for him to drink until he passes out."

"Poor man. You have my sympathy," Thoros removed the sack from the man's head and revealed the half-burned face of Sandor Clegane, more commonly known as The Hound. "Aha, not a man at all. A Hound!"

Men howled and barked as Juliana noticed Arya trying to hide her face.

"So good to see you again, Clegane," Thoros said to the man.

"Thoros? The fuck you doing here?"

"Drinking and talking too much. Same as ever."

Arya motioned for her friends to start walking as Thoros exclaimed, "A pretty prize, lads!"

As they passed the Hound, his gaze rested on Arya, "Girl," he turned to Thoros, "What in seven hells are you doing with the Stark bitch?"


	6. Chapter 6

"If I had a proper forge, I could make it good as new," Gendry commented as e helped Thoros into some armour.

"Doesn't have to look pretty. It just has to keep the arrows out of my heart."

"Why are you helping him?" Arya asked her friend, "He takes us prisoner and now he's our friend?"

"You're not our prisoner, little lady."

"What am I?"

"Our guest. No one's put any chains on you."

"So I can walk away, then?"

"These woods aren't safe for Ned Stark's daughter. You're lucky we found you."

Arya walked away and Gendry turned to look at were Juliana was readying a horse, "What about her?"

Thoros chuckled, "She's from Bear Island. They say every man from Bear Island fight with the strength of then mainlanders."

"But she's not a man."

"Aye, but I have fought with her brother and he used to tell me of the little girl that would sneak out and train in secret when she thought no-one was watching and let's not forget about her gift."

"Her gift?"

"Well, she's a warg."

"What's a warg?"

Thoros went to explain but was interrupted by a yell from one of his men, beckoning him over. "I'm sure she can explain it better anyway," he told him before walking towards his comrade.

*****

"What are you doing? We're about to leave," Arya asked as Hot Pie approached the group of friends with some baked goods.

"I'm staying," the boy told her.

"You're what?" Gendry and Juliana asked.

"I baked some brown bread for the innkeep and she said she never had better. Told Thoros she's keeping me as a payment for all the free meals she's given him. Anyway, it's not me the Brotherhood wants. My brother ain't no king. I'm not a Stark of Winterhell.

"Winterfell," Arya corrected him.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure," she chuckled.

"Well, I made you something," he said and handed two loaves of bread to the girls. Arya was formed like a wolf while Juliana's was a bear. 

"Thank you," Juliana chuckled as she packed it into her bag. 

Arya looked at hers questioningly, "What is it?"

"It's a wolf."

"Yes, it is," Gendry nodded.

Arya patted the back of it, "That's the tail?"

"Yeah."

"Be safe, Hot Pie," Juliana told their friend.

"Yeah, you, too. Don't get stabbed."

Gendry nodded, "You don't...burn your fingers," he patted him on the shoulder and Juliana gave him a nod before the two of them went to join the others, leaving Arya to say her good-bye.

Thoros pointed to a horse, "That one's for you."

Juliana nodded and mounted it, stretching her hand out for Gendry.

"I can't ride," he admitted.

"Just hold on to me, I'll do the rest."

Gendry took her outstretched hand and used the stirrup of the saddle to further help himself up and then sit behind Juliana. 

As they watched Arya get lifted up on Thoro's horse, Juliana kicked against the sides of the horse gently and made if move forwards.

Immediately, she could feel Gendry tighten his grip around her waist and move closer to her in fear of falling off.

"Hey Hot Pie," they heard Arya yell from beside them. "It's really good!" she yelled, referring to her wolf-shaped bread.

*****

For the last few miles, Gendry and Juliana had been hooded while someone led their horse and after that, they had been lifted off the horse and led over rocky ground.

When the hoods were lifted off their faces, they stood in a big gave with a fire in the middle, making everything look orange.

"What is this place?" Gendry asked after his eyes got used to the dim light.

"Somewhere neither wolves nor lions come prowling," Thoros told him before walking towards Sandor Clegane, whose hood had just been removed.

"You look like a bunch of swineherds," the man grumbled.

"Some of us were swineherds," Anguy told him, "And some of us tanners and masons. That was before."

"You're still swineherds and tanners and masons. You think carrying a crooked spear makes you a soldier?"

"No," another voice spoke and the people parted to make space for an eye-patch wearing man, "Fighting in a war makes you a soldier."

"Beric Dondarrion? You've seen better days."

"And I won't see them again."

The Hound shook his head, "Stark deserters. Baratheon deserters. You lot aren't fighting in a war. You're running from it."

"Last I heard, you were King Joffrey's guard dog. But here you are a thousand miles from home. which of us is running?"

"Untie these ropes and we'll find out," the Hound prompted referring to the ropes that were still bound around his torso, "What are you doing leading a mob of peasants?"

"Ned Stark ordered me to execute your brother in King Robert's name."

"Ned Stark is dead. King Robert is dead. My brother's alive," he spat on the ground, "You're fighting for ghosts."

"That's what we are- ghosts waiting for you in the dark. You can't see us, but we see you. No matter whose cloak you wear- Lannister, Stark, Baratheon- you prey on the weak, the Brotherhood Without Banners will hunt you down."

"You found god? Is that it?"

"Aye, I've been reborn in the light of the one true God. As have we all. As would any man who's seen the things we've seen."

"If you mean to murder me, then bloody well get on with it."

"You'll die soon enough, dog," It was Thoros who spoke now, "But it won't be murder, only justice."

"And a kinder fate than you deserve," Anguy told him, "Lions you call yourselves. At the Mummer's Ford, girls of seven years were raped and babes still on the breast were cut in two while their mothers watched."

"I wasn't at the Mummer's Ford," the Hound defended himself, "Dump your dead children at some others door."

"House Clegane was built upon dead children," Thoros told him, "I saw them lay Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys before the Iron Throne."

"Do you take me for my brother? Is being born Clegane a crime?"

"Murder is a crime!" Anguy yelled.

"I never touched the Targaryen babes! I never saw them, never smelled them, never heard them bawling! You want to cut my throat, get on with it! But don't call me murderer and pretend that you're not."

"You murdered Mycah!" Arya called out, "The butcher's boy. My friend. He was 12 years old. He was unarmed. And you rode him down. You slung him over your horse like he was some deer."

"Aye, he was a bleeder."

"You don't deny killing this boy?" Beric asked.

"I was Joffrey's sworn shield. The boy attacked the prince."

"That's a lie!" Arya yelled, "I hit Joffrey. Mycah just ran away."

"Then I should have killed you. Not my place to question princes."

Beric looked at Arya's angry expression and then turned to Sandor, "You stand accused of murder. But no one here knows the truth of the charge, so it is not for us to judge you. Only the Lord of Light may do that now. I sentence you to trial by combat."


	7. Chapter 7

"So, who will it be?" the Hound asked, "Should we find out if your fire god really loves you, priest? Or you, archer? What are you worth with a sword in your hand? Or is the little girl the bravest one here?"

Beric looked back at Arya, "Aye, she might be. But it's me you'll fight."

The people around them started to gather to watch what would happen.

"Lord, cast your light upon us," Thorus spoke in a deep voice.

"Lord of Light, defend us," the men chanted as Anguy cut loose the Hound.

"Show us the truth," Thoros continued, "Strike this man down if he is guilty. Give strength to his sword if he is true. Lord of Light, give us wisdom."

Arya exchanged a look with her friends who seemed to find it just as weird as she did.

"For the night is dark and full of terrors."

"For the night is dark and full of terrors," the men echoed him.

Beric got on his knees and Thoros used a sword to cut into the kneeling man's hand while Sandor was swinging around the sword he had been given.

Then, Beric took the sword of Thoros and quickly dragged his bloody hand against the shaft of it, making the sword go up in flames. 

Juliana watched as the Hound stumbled back in fear before gathering himself and taking a shied of a man in front of him.

Beric, who now also had a shield in hand, swung around his sword as he faced the Hound.

Sandor shouted as he charged forwards, clinking blades with Beric. He attacked again but Beric blocked him and then attacked back, his fiery sword being blocked by Sandor's as the defender took a step back.

They stood opposite each other for a moment before Beric started to charge repeatedly making Sandor take steps back while dodging and blocking his opponent's sword. 

The two fighters got closer to the crowd, making Arya duck and Juliana could feel Gendry pulling her away from Beric who was swinging around his sword wildly while Sandor was frantically trying to avoid the flames that scared him so.

They moved away from the watchers again and Sandor managed to block another blow with so much force that Beric had to take a step back, which Sandor used to attack again.

Beric managed to block as he turned and seemed to dance back into the battle, swinging at the taller man. Their swords clashed, creating sparks as Sandor became more aggressive and his different barrels around them.

Beric used his shield and pushed Sandor forward, sending him stumbling into a small fire. The man yelled before kicking at wooden objects around him and marching forwards again, blocking an oncoming blow and kicking at Beric's stomach.

Juliana watched as the two took turns in attacking and blocking until Sandor managed to hack Beric's shield to pieces. 

Beric threw down his demolished shield and started to attack again, forcing the Hound back until the man tripped, holding his shield up to protect himself from further blows.

Seeing as the shield was made out of wood and Beric's sword was still burning, the shield caught fire after it was repeatedly hit, making the crowd chant, "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" while Sandor stood back up and started to hit at the shield to kill the flames.

"Kill him!" Arya yelled as Beric charged again.

Sandor blocked and pushed the older man back, shouting in fury and charging forwards. Beric had his arms raised to deliver another blow but Sandor was quicker and stabbed him through the chest, making him fall to the ground, dead.

The crowd fell silent as Thoros dashed forward and leaned onto his friend's lifeless body, "Lord, cast your light upon this man, your servant. Bring him back from death and darkness. His flame has been extinguished. Restore it."

Juliana couldn't make out the rest of the chant as Sandor yelled and rolled himself on the ground to try and extinguish the burning shield. 

"Arya, don't!" someone yelled as Arya dashed towards the Hound with a weapon in her hand but was stopped by Gendry before she could kill the man.

"No! Let go of me!" she shrieked "Let me go!"

"Looks like their god likes me more than your butcher's boy," Sandor taunted.

"Burn in Hell!" Arya yelled as Gendry held her down so she wouldn't do anything stupid.

"He will," a voice spoke and Juliana looked away from her friends to see that Beric was on his feet again, "but not today."

*****

Juliana found Gendry working on a piece of metal.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just mending Lord Beric's armour."

Juliana furrowed her brows, "Why?"

Gendry put down his tool, "I'm going to stay on and Smith for the Brotherhood."

"Why would you do that? I'm supposed to bring you and Arya to Winterfell, remember?"

"The only reason you were supposed to bring us there is that she is a Stark," he said as he used a cloth to clean his hands, "I have no business there."

"Then come to the wall with me."

"And serve some purpose I don't believe in? Lay down vows I don't want to uphold? This is where I want to be, the Brotherhood needs good men."

Juliana sighed and there was a moment of silence before she spoke again, "Then I will come back."

"What?" Gendry asked.

"I'll bring Arya home and then come back here."

Gendry stood up and stared at her before taking a step closer.

"What are you doing?", she asked as he stepped even closer but she didn't dare to take a step back. She looked around quickly to see whether someone was watching them.

"Probably something stupid," he replied.

She went to answer but was cut off by his lips on hers. His arms went around her waist, pulling her closer to him but letting her the option of escaping his hold if she wanted to. Instead, she kissed him back feverishly, lifting her hands to the hem of his shirt to pull him closer.

They pulled apart for a moment, looking into each other's eyes before Juliana closed the gap between them again, continuing their kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First kissing scene I've ever written. I hope it wasn't too cringy


	8. Chapter 8

"What are you doing? Let go of him!"

As Julianna heard Arya's yelling she quickly walked away from the horse she had been reading and towards the shouting only to see that two armoured had gripped Gendry while Arya was yelling at them to stop. A woman dressed completely in red stood between Thoros and Beric and watched.

"The fuck are you doing?" Juliana asked.

"The Lord of Light needs this boy," Beric explained.

"Did the Lord of Light tell you that or did she?" Arya spat as Gendry was forced onto a wagon.

A knight came over to them with two money bags, making Juliana walk over to Beric angrily, "This isn't even for your stupid god, is it? This is for gold!"

Suddenly the woman in red spoke up, "And we will double the price if you send the warg with us."

Before Juliana even knew what was happening, two men gripped her arms. Quickly, she kicked in the legs of one of them, using her free hand to pull her dagger from her boot to slit the throat of the other one before stabbing the man on the ground.

She threw her dagger into the neck of another man that was approaching her and knelt down to pick up the weapon of the man she killed first but couldn't continue her work as the red woman suddenly stood in front of her and blew red dust into her face.

Without wanting to, Juliana breathed the dust in and choked a moment before the world around her turned black.

*****

"After all the running and fighting, here I am, back where I started," Gendry said as he stood next to Melisandre on the upper deck of the ship they had been brought to, looking at the palace of King's Landing, while Juliana was in a cabin below, still unconscious from the mysterious powder the red woman had used.

"Do you miss it?" said red woman asked.

"King's Landing?"

"Your father's house."

Gendry shook his head, "Never had a father. Never wanted one."

"Haven't you ever wondered where your strength came from? Your talent for fighting?"

"I'm lowborn," he told her, "As low as can be. My mother was a tavern wench."

"Mine was a slave. So was I. Bought and sold, scourged and branded, until the Lord of Light reached down, took me in his hand and raised me up," she stared at him with bright blue eyes.

"I was born in Flea Bottom," he looked down.

"Your blood is noble."

"Are you saying my father, he was some lord or...," Gendry trailed off.

Melisandre turned to look at the Red Keep, "There. Your father's house."

Gendry looked up and shook his head, "I'm just a bastard."

"The bastard of Robert of the House Baratheon, First of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men. Why do you think the gold cloaks wanted you? There is power in a king's blood."

*****

"Where are you bringing her?" Gendry asked as he saw a man carry Juliana away.

"She will stay unconscious for a day or two," a knight explained without answering the young man's question.

*****

Gendry was looking around the room he was in as the red priestess entered with a box in her hand. He was now dressed in finer clothing and had been bathed.

"Have you ever seen one like it?" Melisandre asked, referring to the golden firepit he was looking at while she placed the box on a nearby table.

"I've never seen anything like any of this. Not in my life."

"It's shocking, isn't it, the first time you encounter real wealth? when I was your age, I lived on a bowl of stew a day. And stew is a kind word for it."

"In Flea Bottom we call them bowls of brown. We'd pretend that the meat in them was chicken... We knew it wasn't chicken."

"Here, taste this," Melisandre handed him a goblet. As Gendry was reluctant, she added, "You think I'm trying to poison you? This isn't poison."

Slowly, Gendry walked forwards and took the goblet of her hand. Lifting it to his lips, he took a sip before putting it down. "That's-" he didn't finish his sentence as his legs gave out underneath him.

He felt as she heaved him up onto the bed in the room but wasn't able to move a single muscle in his body. 

She walked over to the small table with the box on it and opened it, taking pincers to get a small wiggling creature out of it. A leech.

"Don't worry, it won't take much," she said before ripping his shirt open with one hand and placing the slimy creature on his naked chest.

*****

When Juliana finally woke up, she was lying in a dimly lit cell with Gendry across of her.

"Where are we?" she asked groggily as she sat up.

"Dragonstone," he replied. "We're King Stannis' prisoners."

Juliana cursed and rubbed her hands over her face, "How long was I out?"

"About a day or so," he replied as they heard the footsteps of a man echo through the dungeons. They looked to see a man carrying a torch walking towards them.


	9. Chapter 9

"How are you keeping?" the man asked as he arrived at their cell. It was an older looking man with greying hair and a face that looked like it had been exposed to a lot of harsh weather on the open sea.

"Great," Gendry replied sarcastically, "Never better."

"It was just a bit of blood," the man said, confusing Juliana.

Gendry shook his head, "I should have known. Every time a highborn asks my name, it's trouble," he added, making Juliana look to the ground.

"Most of you don't really see us as people, do you? Just a million different ways to get what you want," he added.

"I'm not a highborn." the man said.

"She called you Ser. I heard it."

The man sighed and sat down, leaning against their cell door, "A recent state of affairs. I was born in Flea Bottom just like you."

Juliana scooted a bit closer to listen to the man's words as Gendry replied, "Sure, you were. You're my friend. You're here to help."

"I lived below the street of Flour."

"How far below?" Gendry asked, not really believing what the man said. "How close to the Red Keep were you?"

"The shit that poured from the privy pipes flowed down the side of Aegon's Hill along Tanner's Row and right in front of my front door on Gin Alley", they finished together.

Gendry now turned his head to look at the man as he continued, "The Street of Steel, with your armour and your knights? Pfft. You lived in the fancy part of town. And here we are now. Two boys from Flea Bottom and a northern lady of the wall locked in the castle of a southern king."

"Come a long way," Juliana told them.

There was a moment of silence before Gendry asked, "So how did you become a lord?"

"Oh, that's a long story."

"Better not, then, I'm a bit busy."

"Many years ago I helped King Stannis out of a difficult situation. He rewarded me with a lordship. And this."

He held up his right hand so the two of them could see that four of his fingers had been chopped half off.

"That makes you Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight," Juliana acknowledged.

"Aye, but I didn't want to be a lord. I nearly didn't accept."

"Why did you?" Gendry asked.

"I did it for my son. I didn't want him to step over a river of shit every time he stepped through his front door. I wanted him to have a better life."

"And does he?" Juliana asked.

"He's dead," Davos replied.

Juliana and Gendry then fell silent, neither knowing what to say.

"How'd he die?" Gendry then asked as Davos stood up.

"Following me," he said before turning and walking away.

*****

"Before we left the tavern with the Brotherhood, Thoros told me that you are a walg."

"A walg?"

"Wack?'

As Juliana raised her eyebrows, Gendry groaned, "You know what I mean."

She chuckled, "I'm a warg. It means I can take over the body of an animal."

Gendry looked as if he didn't believe her.

"You remember those torturers in Harrenhall? The rat that bit one of them?"

"That was you?" Gendry asked and as Juliana nodded he asked, "So you can just take over any animal, no matter what?"

"Well, it's easier if I'm familiar with the animal but if I'm in danger or highly emotional it usually works with others too."

Gendry seemed amazed with that and proceeded to ask her different questions about her abilities until he felt like he was an expert on the topic himself.

*****

Juliana had slept while leaning against Gendry but she was quickly awoken as the door of their cell was opened.

"What are you doing?" Gendry asked.

"You're leaving," Davos replied.

"Is this some kind of trick?"

"Yes, but not on you."

He threw a bundle of cloth at them and Juliana realized that it was two cloaks. She handed one to Gendry and swung the other one around her own shoulders.

*****

The three of them were walking on the beach of Dragonstone. Gendry had just put the hood of his cloak down while Juliana still had hers up.

"Aim for that star," Davos told them, pointing at the brightest star at the sky, "Don't stop. There's bread and water. Go slow with it."

They got to a small boat and Davos placed a bag in one side of it, "If you finish it off, no matter how thirsty you get, don't drink seawater."

"I know not to drink seawater," Gendry told him as the man pushed the boat into the ocean for them.

Ignoring his remark, Davos continued, "Row for a full day and night and you'll reach Rook's Rest. You'll want to stop there. Don't. She'll find you."

"Where should we go?" Juliana asked as she got into the both, spending the first few years of her life on an island, she knew her way around a boat and didn't have difficulties with keeping her balance.

"Keep the coast on your left side until you reach King's Landing."

"The gold cloaks are looking for me," Gendry explained.

"They were looking for me for 20 years. Do they know your face?"

"No."

Davos nodded, "I'd worry more about the Red Woman."

Gendry climbed into the boat, making it shake dangerously as he sat down.

"You ever been in a boat before?" Davos asked as he saw Gendry hold onto the sides of the boat tightly.

"No."

"You know how to swim?"

"No."

Davos sighed, "You're lucky your love is an islander. Now go on."

"Why are you doing this?" Gendry asked, ignoring his comment while Juliana took the rudders in her hands.

"Because it's right. And because I'm a slow learner."

"When you get to Flea Bottom, have a bottle of brown for me!" he called after them as Juliana moved the boat forward with strong strokes.

"You think we'll ever see him again?" she asked.

"I don't know," Gendry replied as they watched Davos return to the castle.


	10. Chapter 10

Years had passed and both Juliana had changed physically. 

Gendry didn't look as boyish anymore as he once had and now wore his hair shorter while Juliana also looked more grown up and wore sand-coloured clothes instead of the Night's Watch's black. She had also started to braid half of her hair in small braids, giving her somewhat of a roguish look and making her look less like a lady.

Neither of them had changed a lot in character though. Their relationship with each other had let both of them keep most of their earlier traits even though they were both no longer children.

A voice interrupted their busy work day in which Gendry was forging armour and weapons while Juliana sold them, occasionally Juliana would help with the smith's work but she had never managed to become as talented as Gendry.

"I wasn't sure I'd find you."

The couple turned to see Davos Seaworth, clad in all black look at them.

"Thought you might still be rowing. I looked in shops, taverns, inkeeps. Should have known to come straight to the Street of Steel."

"Aren't you worried about the gold cloaks?" Gendry asked.

"Haven't been here in years. Why should they recognize me? Sometimes I hardly do," he walked over to a stand with swords, "Nothing fucks you harder than time. Anybody give you any trouble?" he turned back to look at them.

"Here we are, arming Lannisters, and we never get a second look." Gendry shrugged, "But you were right. Safest place for me was right under the queen's nose."

"Don't be sure. Safety is never a permanent state of affairs," he stepped closer to the two of them, "Bad things are coming."

Gendry nodded, "You came o get us. You want us to come with you."

"Well, the thing you need to understand is-"

"We're ready," Juliana told him, slinging a bag over her shoulder.

"You-"

"Let's go," Gendry cut him off as Juliana threw him his own bag.

"You should know what you're heading into."

"What do you think I've been thinking about with every swing of the hammer?" Gendry asked. "How happy I am making weapons for the family that killed my father? The family that tried to kill me?" he scoffed, "We've been getting ready. Never knew what for, but we've always known we'd know when it comes."

Davos nodded, "You might want to bring two of those swords."

Juliana snorted, "Better not, he'll stab himself by accident." Gendry gave her a look as he went over and got his self-made Warhammer. "He's better with his hammer and I'm more of a dagger person."

Juliana was wearing two daggers strapped her lower back so she could pull one from each side and had a throwing knife in her boot. Other small knives were hidden in her clothing which she could easily throw.

*****

Keep your father's name to yourself," Davos told Gendry as they walked along the shore, "Situation's complicated enough already."

Gendry placed his hammer in a boat they were lead to. "Well, who should I say I am?"

Davos didn't reply as they saw two gold cloaks come their way. He turned to Gendry, "I told you, Clovis, if we don't get out of here soon, someone's going to-"

"You there!"

Davos walked over to them, spreading his arms to show that he wasn't hiding any weapons under his cloak while Juliana stepped in front of Gendry, him slinging his arms around her waist to cover up her daggers.

"No weapons, friends. I promise," Davos said, "What can I do for you?"

"Is that your boat?"

"It is."

"The docks are that way," one of the gold cloaks said, pointing in the direction of the docks.

"That they are. I try to stay away from them to avoid good men such as yourselves," he got out a pouch of money, "Still five gold dragons?"

The taller one of the two laughed, "Are you joking?"

"You must be even older than you look," The other one spoke, "15."

"15?!"

"Apiece."

Davos sighed before handing them the money, "I can't say it was a pleasure doing business with you."

He turned around to walk back to them but stopped again as one of them asked, "What's in the boat?"

"Not more gold," Davos answered, as he turned around again.

"Wine?" one of them asked.

"I like wine," the other one said.

"Or hams."

Davos hesitated for a moment before stepping back, "Come have a look."

He flipped over a piece of cloth to hide the hammer and reveal baskets of fermented crab meat at the same time. 

"Fermented crab," he pointed out.

"What?"

"Fermented crab," he repeated slowly. "One bucket of this triples the brothel's earnings for the week. A man thinks he's done. He's ready to go back to his loving family. But before he gets his breeches up, his lady of the hour pops a tiny spoon of that into his mouth. Five minutes later, he's back in the race. Here, have a taste."

He handed the two of them some crab meat who pulled faces as they chewed, "I'd hurry to your favourite establishment, or you'll put a hole in that chainmail."

They shared a laugh as the gold cloaks nodded and turned to leave. They had almost left the beach as a blond half-man dressed in black came walking towards them. 

The gold cloak turned to look at him as he passed them on the way to Davos, Gendry and Juliana, "Oi, dwarf!"

The man made his way towards their boat as Davos hurried to the soldiers, "I really wouldn't try any more until you see how the first bite hits you."

"That dwarf..." one of the men said, ignoring Davos as they passed him.

"Where did you get that scar?" the other one asked, referring to a gash that ran across the man's face.

"Fishhook. Some men you just can't teach."

"We was looking for a dwarf with a scar like that a while back."

Davos got out his money bag again, "Perhaps there's some arrangement?"

The gold cloaks turned around, "Arrangement? You gonna arrange to pay us more than Queen Cersei-"

The man never got to finish his sentence as Juliana had already cut his throat while Gendry took a swing with his hammer and smashed in the face of the other man.

"These are Gendry and Juliana," Davos explained.

"They'll do."

 


	11. Chapter 11

Davos was bringing away the boat as Gendry and Juliana had a short moment to discuss what they would do.

They had been told to not give away their identities but neither of them were known to follow along with orders they didn't like.

"So what are we going to do?" Juliana asked, sure that she already knew the answer.

"Probably something stupid," Gendry replied with a grin on his lips.

"Good enough."

*****

"We're leaving today," Davos explained to them as they walked over the shores of Dragonstone. "The king's got a lot on his mind."

"We understand that," Juliana assured him.

"He doesn't need to be thinking about harbouring the bastard of a dead king or the daughter of his former commander."

"You don't have to worry," Gendry told him.

"You're just Clovis and Fanny, a Smith and his wife who've come to pay their respects before they head off to find work in Winterfell."

"Understood."

They entered a cave and Davos spoke up, "Begging your pardon, Your Grace."

"You survived King's Landing," Jon Snow replied.

The King in the North was a man of five foot eight. He wasn't a very tall man but his broad shoulders and usually untamed black locks didn't allow one to think of him as weak. 

Juliana had only seen the man once when he had joined the Night's Watch before she had gone to find more recruits alongside Yoren.

"Yet again," Davos nodded at his King, "Your Grace, these areClo-"

"Name's Gendry, Your Grace," Gendry interrupted him, "I'm Robert Baratheon's son. Bastard son."

Jon looked at him with wide eyes and then looked at Davos.

"He was meant to keep that to himself."

"Our fathers trusted each other. Why shouldn't we?"

Jon nodded, "I saw your father once at Winterfell."

"I met yours in my shop."

"You're a lot leaner."

"And you're a lot shorter."

Juliana elbowed him in the ribs. "I'm Juliana, Your Grace," she pointed at Jon's sword, Longclaw, "I see you have my family's sword.

The King touched the sword before looking at her with wide eyes, "You're Commander Mormont's daughter."

"Aye but I think the sword suits you better than me, I always thought the pommel was a bit much."

"Speaking of swords," Gendry said, "Ser Davos told me where you're going, Your Grace, and why. Let us come with you."

"Don't be a fool," Davos told him, "You're no soldiers."

"No, but we're fighters. And he won't be needing a smith with a sword like that." Gendry defended them.

"You know how to use one?" Jon asked, knowing that Juliana had been trained to fight.

Gendry shook his head.

"Well, that's a problem."

"I prefer a hammer," he looked at Davos for confirmation.

Jon looked at the man as well.

"He can handle himself."

Jon nodded, "We could use the help."

"As my father used to say, 'It's better to be a coward for a minute, than dead for the rest of your life'," Davos spoke up, looking at Gendry pointedly.

"I owe you my life, we both do. Twice over. But if what you said is true about what's up there. We can't just wait out this war."

"Yeah, nobody mind me. All I've ever done is live to a ripe old age"

*****

Jorah Mormont watched his younger sister board a boat with a man around the same age as hers. 

"She is your sister, isn't she?" Tyrion Lannister asked from beside him.

Jorah hummed, "She is my sister but I am no longer her brother. After she heard that I sold people into slavery..."

"But now you meet again after you were exiled and she was believed dead. Maybe faith is not quite done with The Old Bear's yet."

*****

Juliana sat at a table along with Gendry, Jon Snow, an unknown man, Davos, her brother, and a wildling with bright red hair. It felt good to be in the walls of Castle Black again though she had wished it was under different circumstances.

"Isn't it your job to talk him out of stupid fucking ideas like this?" the wildling- known as Tormund Giantsbane- asked Davos as they had told him of their plan to go north of the wall and capture a weight.

"I've been failing at that job of late."

"How many queens are there now?" Tormund asked.

"Two," Jon replied.

"And you need to convince the one with the dragons or the one who fucks her brother?"

The unknown man chuckled alongside Gendry and Jon replied, "Both."

"How many men did you bring?"

Jon looked around the gathered people, "Not enough."

"The big woman?" Tormund asked.

Jon chuckled but didn't answer.

"We were hoping some of your men could help," Jorah said.

Tormund hummed.

"I'll be staying behind," Davos told them. I'm a liability out there, as you well know."

"You are," Tormund nodded. He then turned to Jon, "You really want to go out there? Again?"

Jon nodded.

"You're not the only ones."

*****

"My scouts found them a mile south of the Wall," Tormund told them as they entered the cell block, "Said they were on their way here."

"You're the Hound," Juliana heard Jon say as he looked at one of the men that were in the cell. "I saw you once at Winterfell."

The man sat up and Juliana recognized the burnt face of Sandor Clegane.

"They want to go beyond the Wall, too," Tormund told them.

"We don't want to go beyond the Wall, we have to," a man who Juliana now recognized as Beric Dondarrion spoke up. "Our Lord told us that the Great War is coming-"

"Don't trust him," Gendry interrupted. "Don't trust any of them." he stepped out of the shadow he had been standing in and looked into the cell. "They're the Brotherhood. And the last thing their lord told them to do was cell Juliana and me to a red witch to be murdered."

"Thoros?" Jorah asked and Thoros of Myr leaned out of the corner of the cell. "I hardly recognized you."

"Ser Jorah Mormont. They won't give me anything to drink down here. I haven't been feeling like myself."

"You're a fucking Mormont?" Thorin asked Jorah. "Like the last Lord Commander and the Lady Crow?"

"He was my father," Jorah told him and nodded to Juliana, "She is my sister."

"The man hunted us like animals."

"You returned the favour, as I recall."

Tormund started growling and Beric said, "Here we all are, at the edge of the world. At the same moment. Heading in the same direction for the same reason."

"Our reasons aren't your reasons," Davos argued.

"It doesn't matter what we think our reasons are. There's a greater purpose at work. And we serve it together, whether we know it or not. We may take the steps, but the Lord of Light-"

Sandor interrupted, "For fuck's sake, will you shut your hole? Are we coming with you or not?"


	12. Chapter 12

"We're all on the same side," Jon finally said.

Juliana looked at him, "How's that?"

"We're all breathing."

Jon walked forward and unlocked the cell to let them out.

*****

Juliana had gotten her old uniform of the Night's Watch seeing as it was made for weather like this and that's what she was wearing as she was wearing as they left the tunnel underneath the wall yo go catch themselves a wight.

*****

"You alright?" Jon asked as he looked at Gendry who was stomping stiffly through the snow.

Gendry just hummed.

"Ever been north before?"

"Never seen snow before," he explained.

"Beautiful, eh?" Tormund asked, "I can breathe again. Down south, the air smells like pig shit."

"You've never been down south," Jon told him.

"I've been to Winterfell."

"That's the North."

Tormund blew a raspberry and Gendry had to smirk at the giant man's childish antics.

"How do you live up here? How do you keep your balls from freezing off?" Gendry asked the wildling.

"You got to keep moving. That's the secret. Walking's good, fighting's better, fucking's best."

"The only living woman within the next hundred miles is her," Jon said, pointing at Juliana who was walking further ahead, "And I've heard stories of what she's done to men who came to close for her liking."

Gendry grinned proudly, "So have I."

*****

Juliana and Gendry were walking together again as they watched the unknown man who had sat at the table with them talk to Jon. 

They had found out that his name was Daegal but there was little else they knew of him. Which was currently not the strangest thing about him.

He was dressed as if he were in the south.

"Why is he not freezing his balls off?" Gendry asked her.

Juliana shrugged, "Maybe he doesn't have any."

There was a moment of silence before the two looked at each other and burst out laughing.

They only sobered up as they saw Beric and Thoros looking at them.

"You still mad at us, boy?" Thoros asked.

"You sold us to a witch," Gendry said.

"A priestess," Thoros corrected, "I'll admit, it is a subtle distinction."

"We're fighting a great war," Beric told them, "Wars cost money."

"I wanted to be one of you. Juliana would have joined you too. We wanted to join the Brotherhood, but you sold me off like a slave. Do you know what she did to me? She gave a paralyzing potion, stripped me naked and put leeches on me!"

"She needed your blood," Thoros explained like it was a normal thing.

"Yes, thank you. I know that."

"Could have been worse," Sandor Clegane remarked.

"She wanted to kill me! They would have killed the both of us if it wasn't for Davos."

"But they didn't, did they?" he asked as they stopped walking. "So, what you whinging about?"

"I'm not whinging."

Sandor pointed at his face, "Your lips are moving and you're complaining about something. That's whinging." he pointed at Beric, "This one's been killed six times. You don't hear him bitching about it."

He walked off again, Beric and Thoros following him.

"Maybe we should have kept rowing," Juliana remarked as they started walking again.

*****

They were getting closer to their destination as they landed in a snowstorm. 

"Look!" Tormund pointed at a dark shape in the distance.

"A bear," the Hound remarked. "Big fucker."

"Do bears have blue eyes?" Gendry asked.

"Ask the Mormonts," Daegal replied at the same time as Juliana asked, "How the fuck can you even see its eyes?"

Then, the Bear came charging at them and ripped right through one of the wildlings who was travelling with them. 

They ran forward to where the man had been but only found his lance lying in the bloody snow.

Standing back to back, they formed a circle to try and see the beast through the storm.

One of their comrades screamed as the Bear lunged at him, tearing him up and showing the company its half rotten body.

"Do something!" Gendry yelled at Juliana through the storm.

"I can't!" she yelled back.

"It's an animal!"

"A dead animal!"

Jon ran forward with his sword but was thrown back to their feet.

Beric and Thoros lit up their swords and charged at the wight together but the Bear had Thoros underneath him within seconds, clawing at him before he threw him across the snowy ground.

Beric made the Bear go up in flames as Juliana threw a few knives into it but it kept screeching.

"Fuck it," Juliana heard Daegal say from behind him as the young man jumped forward and...turned into a dragon.

The dragon was about the size of a horse with dark brown scales and orange eyes and Juliana watched in awe as it flew over and around the bear, spewing fire.

Daegal then flew past it, lifted the lance of their fallen comrade up and started flying at the bear with a high speed.

Trying to escape the flames, the bear ran forward but wasn't fast enough to escape the lance that went right through its skull, pinning it to the ground where it would have to burn until it was fully destroyed.

Daegal landed next to Thoros and was a human again within a matter of seconds. 

"Are you alright?" he asked as if it was the most normal thing to turn into a dragon and kill an undead bear.

"Funny old life."


	13. Chapter 13

"So how do you do what you do?" Juliana asked Daegal.

The boy shrugged, "It's just normal for my kind I guess."

"Your kind?"

"Angvlaxar. We're shapeshifters," he explained.

"So, you all turn into dragons?" Gendry asked from behind them.

"The men, yes. Our women can't shift but their human form is usually stronger than ours. My mother likes to say it's the gods' way of creating balance since woman are also usually the ones in power."

*****

They continued their march through the snow until they found a group of weights marching with a White Walker.

Quickly coming up with a plan, Jon lit a small fire in the path the wights had to take while the rest of the company hid in different places around the fire.

By the time the White Walker arrived with his troop, Jon was also safely hidden and they watched as the enemy stopped to inspect the fire.

Then, all at once, they ambushed the Wights from the sides, Juliana and Gendry fighting side-by-side.

Gendry was swinging his hammer and crushing in skulls (though that didn't stop their bodies from coming closer) while Juliana was kicking in legs and cutting through rotting flesh and muscles with her daggers.

From the corner of her eye, Juliana saw her brother being choked by a weight so she fought her way towards him but before she could reach him, most of the dead bodies fell to the ground in pieces.

She turned around and saw Jon stand over a pile of crushed up pieces of ice. He had destroyed the White Walker.

One of the weight had been left undestroyed and it was now snarling and screeching at them as they encircled it.

Tormund threw away his battle axe and punched the dead man in the face, making it fall to the ground. Quickly, Sandor jumped onto it, keeping it down with his massive body.

The screeching of the wight echoed through the vale they were in and as Sandor tried to silence it by putting his gloved hand over the mouth of the thing, he accidentally ripped off the Weight's face.

Shaking his hand in disgust, he quickly covered the face of the weight again to muffle the load noise but it seemed as if it had already been heard as the rumbling of running footsteps came closer.

"Run back to Eastwatch," Jon told Juliana, "Get a raven to Daenerys, tell her what's happened."

"I can't leave you guys."

"You're the fastest. Ho, now!"

Juliana turned to Gendry who had listened to their words.

"If you die out here, I'm going to kill you," she gave him a quick kiss before turning and running as if the devil himself was after her.

*****

Juliana ran through the snow, leaving her cloak to flutter away in the wind so that she may run faster. The icy air was biting at her face, making her eyes tear and her nose grow cold but she kept running.

She ran all the way to the Eastwatch and only stopped as she was at the gate of the tunnel that would lead her through the wall.

"Raven...Daenerys...Help," she panted to the first man she saw.

She didn't know the man but he lead her to where the Ravens were and gave her a scroll of parchment along with some ink and a quill to write. 

As she finished the quick letter, she sent it off to Dragonstone and hoped the Queen would receive it before it was too late.

*****

The rest of the group arrived back the following day, all but Jon Snow.

As Juliana saw Gendry, she couldn't help but fling her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss.

"You're back," she whispered as she pressed her forehead to his.

"A very beautiful woman threatened to kill me if I didn't return."

Juliana smiled before she reclaimed his lips with hers.

*****

Gendry and Juliana watched as Daenerys Stormborn took off with her fleet to sail to King's Landing and convince Cersei Lannister to form a transient alliance against the White Walkers and the weights that waited for them, North of the Wall.

They sailed to save them all but Gendry and Juliana were of little use to them as neither of them had a political value that the others knew of.

So, the couple stayed at Dragonstone to wait for the answer of the Mother of Madness.

 

 


End file.
